әбей

Bashkir

Etymology

A front vowel parallel to Proto-Turkic *apa (“mother, elder sister, aunt”). Front row variant äbey is recent and may have a Mongolian origin. For more see апай (apay).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [æˈβɪj], (NW) [æˈbiʲ]
• Hyphenation: ә‧бей

Noun

әбей • (əbey)

1. old woman

   Бер ауылда ярлы ғына әбей йәшәгән, аның Йәнтимер исемле 12 йәшле улы булған ти.

   Ber awılda yarlı ğına əbey yəşəgən, anıñ Yəntimer isemle 12 yəşle ulı bulğan ti.

   A rather poor old woman lived in a village; she had a 12-year-old son called Yäntimer.

   (From a fairy-tale)

2. (family term) the elder sister of the speaker's father or mother
3. (Eastern Bashkir, North-Western Bashkir) an address to a woman older than the speaker's mother

Declension

Declension of әбей (əbey)

	singular	plural
absolute	әбей (əbey)	әбейҙәр (əbeyźər)
definite genitive	әбейҙең (əbeyźeñ)	әбейҙәрҙең (əbeyźərźeñ)
dative	әбейгә (əbeygə)	әбейҙәргә (əbeyźərgə)
definite accusative	әбейҙе (əbeyźe)	әбейҙәрҙе (əbeyźərźe)
locative	әбейҙә (əbeyźə)	әбейҙәрҙә (əbeyźərźə)
ablative	әбейҙән (əbeyźən)	әбейҙәрҙән (əbeyźərźən)

See also

• инәй (inəy, “address to a woman older than the speaker's mother”) (Southern Bashkir, Standard)

References

• Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*apa/ *apa”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill